Heel



Aug. 2s, 192s.y 1,681,961

- G. E. WARREN HEEL Original Filed Aug. 20, 1923 /A/VE/WURv y Patented Aug.. 28, 1928.

' UNITED STATES .PATENT OFFICE.-

GEORGE E. WARREIL'OF SWAMPSCOTT, MASSACHUSETTS, ASSIGNOB TO UNITED SHO]` JnBLsEY.

MACHINERY CORPORATON, OF PATERSON, N EWA J' BSEY, A CORPORATION Ol' NEW HEEL.

Application led August 20, 1923, Serial 110.658,292. Renewed March 8, 1926.-

This invention relates to shoe heels and is ,aimed at the improvement of heels of the cushion, or resilient, type with a View to the production'of a heel capable of easy and perfeet attachment tot al shoe with important l economies in both material and labor costs.

It is a common practice to provide a shoe with a heel comprising a resilientsection,

- usually of rubber, having a thickness less than the entire height of the heel in the finished shoe, combined with `a comparatively rigid base section consisting of one or more leather lifts and a rand. Such a base` section presents a flat outer face for engagement with` the rubber heel section and, to secure the bestresults, itis customary to gouge or scoop out the middle portion of thatvface ofthe base which'engages the heel seat portionof .the shoe. This is rendered necessary, if'a pery fect fit is to be secured, by the fact that the degree of convexit of the heel seat is greater than can be rea `'l .compensated-,for by the concavity produce by the application of a rand alone to the iiat surface of av base lift.

Y g5 The labor cost'of producing commercial rubber heel bases is high and a considerable Waste of material necessarily occurs. l The present invention provides a novel heel in which, for the first time a flat tread face and tight edge joints are secured Without the use of cement by associating a` concavo-conveX base section, with a deformable, resilient top section which is normally concavo-convex but is of such form that when it is drawn down into close engagement with the base section it will'present a substantially flat tread ing the heel finally attached. y The shoe 10, in the illustrated embodimentv surface. In the illustrated. form of the invention the resilient top section is thicker at the edges than inthe middle and its concave 40 attaching face vis rendered inextensible by a fabric or equivalent reinforcing element-soA that, when its treadface is deformed to flatness, an extremely tight edge joint is produced. The maximum results mayfbe secured ifthe deformable heell section is of such shape that it is normally concave-convex on every line of cross section, 'and in the illustrated heel it is so formed, but -thesubstantial benefits of the invention maybe secured by "A using concave-convex deformable sections of I heel seat of the shoe.

TheQ heel base 14 may of substantially other than this exact shape. t l, f'\-The concavo-convex base section may advantageously be of scoop-shape and is preferably of uniform thickness throughout, whereby there i's no waste of material and the difcult and expensive operations of rand forming and base gouging are eliminated.

The scope of the invention further includes va resilient heel alone which is especially adapted to produce a fiat tread surface and a tight edge joint, without cement, when atlowing' detailed description of one embodiment thereof, in connection with the accompanying drawing, in which Fig. 1 is a perspective view, partlyin section, showing the heel end of a shoe with a base section attached thereto and a rubber top ctim, located upon-the base, ready to be flatne j Fig. v2 -is a longitudinal central section through the base and top section of the heel' Fig. 3 )is a vieu1 partly in elevation i and partly in. section looking toward the breast face-vof the heel; and v Fig. 4 is a view sim'ilar to Fig'. 1 but showof the inventionfhas a short outersole 12 which may be similar to that disclosed in my copending application, Serial No. 476,659, led June 11,1921. The heel base 14 may comprise one or more short lifts16 and one or more full length lifts 18 and differs essentiarlly from the usual plano-concave heel base in'I that it is concave-convex in cross section and, in .the illustrated embodiment of the invention,l is substantially scoop-shaped, the concave face of the base being of a sha to conform closely to'the convex surface o the uniform thickness throughout, consisting of plain lifts assembled and molded in a heel compressor to the desired scoop shape. The manufacture of such a base involves no waste ofthe material of the lifts and requires but few simple operations. y

In the illustrated example of the invention the base 14 is attached to the heel seat of the shoe by nails 20 driven from the inside of the shoe and clinched at the outer face of the base section. Jig holes, indicated at 22, may conveniently be employed to facilitate the positioning of the various parts in proper relation to each other as described in detail and claimed in my copending application Serial N o. 476,659, filed J une 11, 1921, hereinbefore referred to.

The resilient top section 24 is normally concavo-convex on every line of cross section and, as herein shown, is thicker at the edges than in thel middle, being so proportioned that when it is pressed down upon the base section 14 the tread face of the heel Will be deformed to flatness. At the concave face of the top section 24 is a nail anchoring portion 26 which may conveniently consist of one or more plies of fabric vulcanized to the rubber body ofthe top section of the heel. The fabric renders the attaching' face of the rubber heel 24 substantialfy inextensible so that when the heel is flattened upon the base 14 all of the rubber at any substantial distance from its attaching face is compressed, theheel thus being suiiiciently stiifened to produce a. very tight edge joint Without the use of cement.

The rubber heel is flattened upon the base by pressure and attadhed by nails 28 driven through the rubber until their heads are seated upon the nail holding insert 26. The

, rubber closes over the heads of these attaching nails and a suitably roughened or corru-4 gated area 30 covering that part of the tread yface of the heel through which the nails are driven makes the marks left by the nails and drivers practically invisible.

Although the invention is herein shown and described as applied -to a shoe with a short outersole, Yit should be understood that it is equally applicable to shoes with full length soles and that the same advantages are realized in that case as in the case of the shoe illustrated in the drawings. Having disclosed the invention, what is claimed as new and desired to be secured by Letters Patent is 1. A shoe heel comprising a deformable, resilient top section which is normally concavo-convex on every line of cross section, flattened and combined With a comparatively rigid concavo-convex base section, the heel asa Whole having a flat tread face and a concave seat face.

2. A shoe heel comprising al deformable, resilient top section which is normally concavo-convex and thicker at the edges than in the middle, flattened and combined With a. comparatively rigid concave-convex base section.

3. A shoe heel comprising a deformable, resilient top section Which is normally con'- cavo-convex on every line of cross section and thicker at the edges than in the middle, combined with a comparatively rigid scoopshaped base section of substantially uniform thickness throughout, to produce a fiat tread face and a concave, scoop-shaped faceconforming to the heel seat of a shoe.

4. 'A deformable, resilient heel normally of 4concave-convex form, thicker at the edges than in the middle, and having at its concave face a nail 'anchoring portion which is substantially inextensible and is at least as large as the nailing area.

5. A deformable heel normally of concavo-convex form on every line of cross section comprising a principal body portion of resilient material, and a fabric nail anchoring element permanently united to said body portion at the concave attaching face of the heel, so constructed and arranged that attaching nails driven through the nail anchoring element Will hold the heel With'its entire attaching face substantially in engagement with a convex surface to which it is attached and its tread face flat.

6.y A shoe heel comprising a. deformable, resilient top section,nor1nally of concavoconvex 'form and thicker at the edges than in the middle, having at its concave face a sub-` stantially inextensible reinforcing element, combined with a concavo-convex base section of substantially uniform thickness throughname to this specification.

GEORGE E. WARREN. 

